Marine Corps Heritage Foundation seeks award nominees

U-T San Diego reporter judging dispatches on Marines abroad

The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation is accepting submissions for its annual awards program through Jan. 9, 2013. The foundation recognizes “exemplary work in advancing and preserving Marine Corps history” in 15 categories, including historical scholarship, journalism, literature, art, photography, drama and museum exhibits.

I am helping judge submissions this year for the foundation’s Major Megan McClung Award for distinguished reporting on U.S. Marines abroad.

It is a special honor for two reasons. The first is that I met McClung, a Marine public affairs officer, before she was killed in Iraq. She escorted me on a dangerous all-night reporting trip in Baghdad, when I was writing about wrecking crews hauling away military vehicles after roadside bomb attacks.

I remember being impressed with her. McClung was fearless, tireless and dedicated. Peppy even, despite having to work until dawn with me for a story.

Her father once told me McClung was disappointed she couldn’t join the infantry, so she became a Marine public affairs officer. “I’m going where the infantry and the tankers go and I don’t have to worry about the paperwork,” Mike McClung recalled her saying.

On Dec. 6, 2006, McClung, 34, was killed by a roadside bomb explosion in Ramadi — the first female Marine officer to die in the war.

Another reason judging the contest resonates for me: last year I was presented with the Major Megan McClung Award for my coverage of Camp Pendleton Marines
deployed to Sangin
, Afghanistan with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. My journo battle buddy, photographer Nelvin C. Cepeda, and I spent nearly three weeks on the front lines with the infantry unit in February and March 2011.

The “Darkhorse” Marines and sailors suffered heavy casualties during their seven-month tour as they battled Taliban fighters and pushed them to the outskirts of the district. Twenty-five from their battalion were killed in action, and more from supporting units. Two years later, physical and mental wounds among many of those who made it home remain unhealed.

I also received the 2012 General Oliver P. Smith Award for distinguished local news reporting, for my eight-day series “
The Long Walk Home
” about the recovery of a Marine double amputee wounded by an improvised explosive device, or IED as the military calls them. The series was based on three months of reporting on Sgt. Collin Raaz as the former scout sniper learned to walk again on prosthetic legs at Naval Medical Center San Diego.

Winners receive a $1,000 cash prize, medallion and brick along the Semper Fi Memorial Park pathway at the Marine Corps Heritage Center. The 2013 awards will be presented April 20 at the foundation’s annual ceremony at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Va.

“The foundation applauds all those who have created work that depicts, advances, and preserves Marine Corps history, traditions and culture,” said retired Lt. Gen. Robert Blackman, Jr., president and chief executive of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. “It is so important for these works to be celebrated.”

Active duty Marines, veterans and civilians of all backgrounds whose creative works focus on Marine life, culture, history or operations are welcome to apply.

If you have suggestions for nominations in any category, drop me a line. Or submit an entry for your work or someone else’s with the foundation. It’s free. Details are at
www.marineheritage.org/awards.asp